1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus an method for reducing air pollution and particularly to an apparatus and method for filtering and removing pollutants from exhaust discharged from factories and other such sources.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the many ways in which air pollution is produced is through the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, by sources, such as factories, power plants, planes, trains, and automobiles. However, factories and power plants are two of the largest sources of toxic fumes and air pollution, such as greenhouse gases. The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, typically increases the amount sulfur, carbon dioxide and other contaminants in the atmosphere and can likely harm, not only the environment, through global warming, for example, but also can lead to higher incidences of cancer, as well as increased respiratory and cardiac issues.
Accordingly, various apparatuses, systems and methods, such as scrubbers, washers, and electrostatic devices, for example, can reduce the air pollution produced from the burning of fossil fuels by sources such as power plants and factories. Many, if not most, of these apparatuses, systems, and methods include the use of water to cool the exhaust as it rises and separate the contaminants from the polluted exhaust. Not only can the water cause the separation of the contaminants from the exhaust, it can also cause the contaminants to settle at the bottom of the apparatus, such as can be due to the increased weight that results from the addition of water molecules to the contaminants. Consequently, these contaminants are then discharged from the system and/or apparatus along with the contaminated water.
However, such apparatuses, systems, and methods are generally either relatively costly to implement or relatively inefficient because they typically simply filter the contaminated exhaust once and leave contaminants in the exhaust that is released back into the atmosphere. Additionally, the use of water in some of these apparatuses can not only causes corrosion in the smoke stack, but can also cause a foul odor, for example, once the exhaust has been treated.
Thus, an apparatus and method for reducing air pollution from exhaust addressing the aforementioned problems is desired.